I think this would be huge for the Spurs if we can get him during the off season. He has the same body as Duncan and the way he plays sometimes reminds me of Duncan. He can shoot well, rebound well, occasionally block a shot, and he is tough and strong. The kid is only 25 years old. He is a free agent this summer. I really hope we can sign him for maybe 4 years at $7 million a year.

Would help if we could get him for a good price. Though I think we really need a big who is athletic. Like Ibaka or Magee. Don't know who that would be though. Those types don't grow on trees.

Um Jason Thompson is very athletic. One of the most athletic bigs in the NBA today and he is strong with a very nice mid range game. Magee I believe is a free agent too but no thanks. He is a dufus and I am sure Pop would go crazy coaching that guy.

Most of what I have read indicates they are planning on bringing Thompson back. But who knows.

Quote:

Sacramento Kings
Needs: SF, Athletic PF/C
Picks: 5, 36

The Kings had some success at their reclamation project named Terrence Williams this season and he wants to come back. With that said, there is a good chance that an upgrade at the position could be had at pick 5 in the upcoming draft. The Kings are in need of a playmaker to go along with Tyreke Evans, DeMarcus Cousins, Marcus Thornton and even Isaiah Thomas and should be able to get just that on draft night. A mature, high character guy such as harrison Barens would be just what the doctor ordered for a team that has been unable to play to its abilities.

One of the biggest things this team lacks is an interior player that can disrupt the other team with his athleticism. Cousins is good, but he plays below the rim. Same can be said for Chuck Hayes who stands only 6’6”. They thought Hassan Whiteside might fill that role, but he’s given them very little and Jason Thompson, while showing flashes of promise, has not been able to consistently produce at the level the Kings would like. The Kings could also get a quality player at 36, as there could be some draftees selected around that area of the draft that end up being steals, like Will Barton of Memphis or Kevin Jones of West Virginia. The Kings had a less than stellar draft last season, selecting Jimmer Fredette over Klay Thompson, Kawhi Leonard, Iman Shumpert, and Kenneth Faried. The team did, however, redeem themselves a bit with their selection of Thomas with the last pick in the draft. This year, they’ll look to make the most of the draft in hopes of getting the team to the playoffs.

Um Jason Thompson is very athletic. One of the most athletic bigs in the NBA today and he is strong with a very nice mid range game. Magee I believe is a free agent too but no thanks. He is a dufus and I am sure Pop would go crazy coaching that guy.

Magee is definitely too stupid to be a Spur. When he took the Wonderlic test he scored an accidentally stab yourself in the eyeball with the pencil and get found eight hours later wandering the adult diapers section of the Super Walmart outside of Pittsburgh.

Last week, The Bee's Jason Jones reported that of the Sacramento Kings' three free agents, Jason Thompson is the one that the front office is most heavily invested in keeping. Thompson had a solid season, right on line with his previous work that seems to indicate he's a definite NBA rotation big man. A starter? With the right center and point guard, sure. A reserve? He'd certainly play decent minutes for just about every team in the league -- he's a solid, reliable contributor who does important things well enough to help.

But the idea that the Kings are truly invested in J.T. still seems odd given last offseason, when the Kings' only major free agent was a power forward that Geoff Petrie intended to make a focal point starter (Chuck Hayes), and when one of the Kings' trade acquisitions was a power forward (J.J. Hickson), and when the team tried (and failed) to keep Samuel Dalembert, another big man who had knocked Thompson out of the starting line-up the year prior. (Hayes and Dalembert may have been mutually exclusive; that remains unclear.)

Thompson had a solid season, showing some offensive and defensive growth. But did he have a good enough season to reverse all of that apparent desire to cut ties last year? I wouldn't have said so. J.T. ended up as a starter and our second best big man this season not because he made incredible improvement, but because Hayes and Hickson were so disappointing.

So where does that leave him, and the Kings' frontcourt?

Sacramento is, as always, hamstrung by the Maloofs' lack of green and the team's inability to pull free agents. So it's not a given that a better starting power forward would become a realistic proposition. Hayes was a special case -- he's always been underhyped because he's undersized and the bulk of his value derives from his defense. So the Kings and Wolves each offered mid-level money, and Sacramento nabbed him. And now it's not clear Hayes is better for the team than Thompson.

The trade game is an alluring one, but while the Kings have assets, you can't bet on an upgrade in that path. Luckily, Petrie can bang on that door before being forced to decide on Thompson: trade talks will begin in earnest once the conference finals end, and draft day should again be a high point of leaguewide activity. The Thompson salary situation doesn't need to be resolved until early July.

That's how I think this should be settled: assuming the Kings don't win the Anthony Davis Sweepstakes, the team should try to trade for an obviously better-than-JT big man, preferably one who can run the floor, even if it means taking on a bloated contract. Failing that, try to sign JT to a reasonable multi-year deal -- something less than what Hayes is making (as difficult as it will be to convince Thompson's agent why it's being offered). If even that fails, since Thompson can sign offer sheets with other teams, then you reboot the Hayes-Cousins pairing, spin the hell out of Hayes' awful season based on the lockout, weird training camp and shoulder injury and focus on the other major acquisition (which probably comes via the draft).

Thanks for posting that. Intriguing. I have watched a lot of Kings basketball since I live in the Sacramento area, and I like what I have seen from the kid. He reminds me of a Tim Duncan type player. Same type of body too and maybe a little stronger. He is a decent shot blocker, not known for it, but a pretty good rebounder, nice inside game, and is athletic, can run the floor, physical, and has a nice 15 foot shot. I feel like we can get him from the Kings. It would have to be a sign and trade. What do you think of this idea? I think this will benefit the Kings as well as us.

Kings wouldn't mind having a potentially good point guard (Corey Joseph), Splitter compliments Thompson's capabilties and we would be trading Bonner for $2 million in cash. Diaw we would sign for the Mid-Level Exception and would replace Bonner's capabilities.

-We would do the MLE and sign Diaw for $5.5 mil
-Sign and trade for Jason Thompson- Giving Sacramento Splitter/Bonner/Joseph in return for Thompson and $2 million cash
-Sign Danny Green for about $2.6 mil as the early Bird right
-Would have to let unfortunately Patty Mills go and not sign him
-The remaining three spots would be our Austin Toros players. I like Justin Dentmon as a PG, and Julian Wright as a backup Small Forward. Eric Dawson as a back up Power Forward
-No more Euro players. Don't bring in de Colo or Lorbek. No thanks!!

-We would do the MLE and sign Diaw for $5.5 mil
-Sign and trade for Jason Thompson- Giving Sacramento Splitter/Bonner/Joseph in return for Thompson and $2 million cash
-Sign Danny Green for about $2.6 mil as the early Bird right
-Would have to let unfortunately Patty Mills go and not sign him
-The remaining three spots would be our Austin Toros players. I like Justin Dentmon as a PG, and Julian Wright as a backup Small Forward. Eric Dawson as a back up Power Forward
-No more Euro players. Don't bring in de Colo or Lorbek. No thanks!!

I don't know, you automatically go small ball when you go the bench, especially if you only want to play TD 24 minutes. Thats only two players over 6'9".

Thanks for posting that. Intriguing. I have watched a lot of Kings basketball since I live in the Sacramento area, and I like what I have seen from the kid. He reminds me of a Tim Duncan type player. Same type of body too and maybe a little stronger. He is a decent shot blocker, not known for it, but a pretty good rebounder, nice inside game, and is athletic, can run the floor, physical, and has a nice 15 foot shot. I feel like we can get him from the Kings. It would have to be a sign and trade. What do you think of this idea? I think this will benefit the Kings as well as us.

Kings wouldn't mind having a potentially good point guard (Corey Joseph), Splitter compliments Thompson's capabilties and we would be trading Bonner for $2 million in cash. Diaw we would sign for the Mid-Level Exception and would replace Bonner's capabilities.

Thompson would be an upgrade from Splitter I feel.

The Spurs will not move any money on any trade. They got too many point guards in Sacramento. Send Joseph to his native Canada for his best trade value.

This makes perfect sense for the Spurs and Kings. Kings sign Jason Thompson for $6 million for 3 years. They would trade him to the Spurs for Splitter/Bonner/Joseph. Splitter would fill a need for the Kings, same with Bonner, and potentially Joseph.

The Kings could very easily get Drummond where he is projected. Drummond has the same exact body and length as Thompson. So I can see them getting Drummond and letting Thompson go.

Splitter could be the starter on the Kings or a back up to Cousins/Drummond. Bonner would replace Donte Green's spot, and the Kings wouldn't have to sign Whiteside and Honeycutt. It all works out and makes perfect sense.

Seriously, Thompson is just not good enough to get both splitter and Joseph in return.

Huh? Are you kidding me? Thompson is not good enough for a Splitter/Bonner/Joseph trade. I think it works out nicely for both teams.

Thompson is an upgrade from Splitter. If you don't think so, then you obviously haven't watched many games of Thompson or have seen his development. Thompson is more physical, more athletic, better rebounder, rotates to the defender better, better outside shooter. What more can you ask for?

Splitter shoots a much higher percentage and passes better. He gets more blocks, rebounds, and points on a per minute basis playing fora much better team.

If you compared Splitter numbers to Thompson numbers per minute last season, you are right Splitter's are slightly better for more blocks, rebounds, points on a per minute basis. His shooting percentage was 62% compared to Thompson's 53.5%. Of all the players that overachieved this season, it would have to be Splitter.

So yes, I would role the dice and get a slightly younger player in Thompson that has more upside than Splitter does who I felt overachieved this season.

We will have almost no cap space this year. Duncan will sign for cheaper but we are currently 15 mil over the cap. He makes 21 mil. If he resigns for 6 mil then we would be at approximately at the cap. So the money we wil have o work with summer will be expiring contracts and i believe dyess contract for his partial guarantee. You also have to look at the people getting raises so we have probably close to the MLE to spend. I think with the new CBA though we can spend the MLE on top of that but it cant be combined with our cap space. so we will probably have about 5 mil twice to spend.

So since this is a Jason Thompson forum, would you make the sign and trade of Splitter and Joseph with maybe the right of Nando De Colo for Thompson?

Would the Spurs do this? Would you do this sign and trade? And would the Kings do this?

I wouldn't do it and I don't think the Spurs would either. They are very high on Joseph.

Keep in mind that the lockout really hurt Splitter and Joseph because neither had the full offseason to work with Spurs' coaching staff. This was a huge problem for Joseph because he went straight from his freshman year at UT to an offseason with no pro mentoring into the NBA.

He didn't even play PG full time at UT.

He is a top notch defender and very good shooter. He just didn't ever get a chance to get comfortable in the NBA. It is still very fast for him.

But he's got the ability to succeed.

Spurs need to have an option at the PG for when Tony moves on (which I think he will after TD/Manu retire).

I wouldn't do it and I don't think the Spurs would either. They are very high on Joseph.

Keep in mind that the lockout really hurt Splitter and Joseph because neither had the full offseason to work with Spurs' coaching staff. This was a huge problem for Joseph because he went straight from his freshman year at UT to an offseason with no pro mentoring into the NBA.

He didn't even play PG full time at UT.

He is a top notch defender and very good shooter. He just didn't ever get a chance to get comfortable in the NBA. It is still very fast for him.

But he's got the ability to succeed.

Spurs need to have an option at the PG for when Tony moves on (which I think he will after TD/Manu retire).

I don't know about if they are high on him now. Look at it this way, they put him down to the Austin Toros a few times I believe. They also brought up a few players who were point guards from the Toros to play over him I believe. He also didn't perform all that well when he did play for the Toros. They also signed Mills, instead of playing Joseph. And when Joseph did play a lot of minutes against the Warriors the last game, he wasn't that impressive. Mills though was on fire that night. Joseph though could improve and be a solid back up, but he is too young right now and not going to wait for him to develop when we need a solid back up point guard right now!

I think that unless they get a smoking deal for Joseph leading up to the draft, they will wait to see what he does in Summer League.

Two reasons there. One, they want to know exactly what they've got in terms of his development as a PG. They already know he's a good athlete who can be a great defender and can shoot well from a spot-up position.

Two, if he's going to have any trade value, he's got to play. Guys don't give up good assets for a player who's been buried on the bench.

I think that unless they get a smoking deal for Joseph leading up to the draft, they will wait to see what he does in Summer League.

Two reasons there. One, they want to know exactly what they've got in terms of his development as a PG. They already know he's a good athlete who can be a great defender and can shoot well from a spot-up position.

Two, if he's going to have any trade value, he's got to play. Guys don't give up good assets for a player who's been buried on the bench.

True, I just would rather package him instead of waiting to see what we have. I think Mills has proven his due that he could be a quality back up and possibly a starting point guard for a poor team. So I rather sign Mills, get Joseph's $1 million salary off the books, and use a D-League player as our 3rd string point guard like Justin Dentmon.